John Darnielle is one of the most poetic musicians I've ever heard. His lyrics are absolutely fantastic and he's not afraid to go into incredibly personal things, which I admire. (His book, Wolf in White Van is really good as well.)

The Sunset Tree is my favourite album by them, however The Life of the World to Come is incredibly underrated and is definitely up there too.

All Hail West Texas is also phenomenal and really dictates how a lo-fi album should really sound.

I haven't listened to Beat the Champ properly yet though, so I'll have to play that sometime soon.